Pisa, excellence in life science and ICT

Two strong specializations, in light vehicles and pharmaceuticals; an industrial environment characterized by the presence of many foreign groups, beginning with giants like Continental and Saint-Gobain; a tradition of excellence in university training and research that is used to dialogue with the entrepreneurial world. The area of Pisa is one of Tuscany’s most important production hubs and boasts top level assets to attract investments and new establishments: firstly, a solid infrastructural endowment (the Galileo Galilei airport is the region’s primary terminal, and ranks nationally among the top ten in terms of traffic); secondly a competitive context in terms of operational costs (labor, rent for office and working spaces), as well as access to highly trained and specialized personnel and, finally, a high quality of life.

There are approximately fifty international groups involved in diverse sectors and activities that have etched their bets on this territory: in the productive sector, LafargeHolcim stands out in the construction materials sector, United Technologies in the mechanics sector, and Heineken in the foods sector, whereas the names that stand out in the services and ICT sectors are AMS and Ericsson.

The excellence – beyond the automotive sector where Piaggio distinguishes itself as European leader for two-wheel vehicles – is represented by the life sciences sector, by engineering and by information and communication technology. A high-technology entrepreneurial reality was created around life sciences, consisting of approximately 40 businesses for a total of 850 employees: this texture is created by both businesses that are leaders in their segments, or international (such as the American Baxter or the Swiss Octopharma) as well as Italian (such as Guidotti – specialized in the pharmaceuticals for cardiology and diabetes – and Abiogen Pharma – focalized on primary care and rare diseases), as well as numerous new enterprises in the start up phases. This rich productive context is backed by a solid university system and intense research activities that were able to attract the R&D divisions of international companies to Pisa, and that has led to many successful spin-offs: the University of Pisa, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Scuola Normale, and the Consigilio Nazionale delle Richerche [National Research Council] (consisting of 13 institutes and 1,100 employees) are reference points on the territory.

With over 150 businesses and approximately 1,800 employees, Pisa’s territory represents Tuscany’s reference area for ICT. To this, one must also add a significant presence of advanced mechanics applied to energy and environmental sectors (approximately 50 businesses and 1,900 employees). The local ICT industry reveals a number of specialized sectors ranging from software (with the American Aspen Technology), electronics (with the Austrian AMS and the German Dialog Semiconductor), to consulting services (the French Altran), to digital content & media. In this case as well, the excellence of Pisa’s experience was able to attract to its territory the research and development activities of reference businesses such as AKS/InterActive Corp, Ericsson, Tiscali and ENEL, but also to start collaborations with global leaders such as AMD, Intel, IBM, and Google.

The will to provide resources to the development of collaborations and to support new high-tech businesses is also giving life to the creation of ad installation spaces: beginning with the business incubators (Pont-Tech and Navacchio), the spaces in the Montacchiello hub at the doors of the regional capital [Florence], to the project to Cittadella Galileiana recovery project.